My CT always writes the agenda for the day on the board along with a few steps of directions that the students should begin following as soon as they come in the room. Today I observed the first class of the day, so the CT was still writing directions as the students came in. She greeted most of them and reminded them to look at the agenda and the beginning directions on the board. The students were to take out their homework and put it on the corner of their desks, take out their moon phase flashcards, and begin quizzing their neighbor. She gives the students about 15 minutes for the opening activity. After about 10 minutes, she starts walking around the classroom checking homework. If she sees any clear mistakes in the homework, she tells the student and allows them to fix it to receive more points. At the end of the 15 minutes, my CT reviews the homework by asking for volunteers to give their answers, and then collects it. She then starts the lesson by reviewing what they learned about the Earth and the moon the day before and then jumps into reading about the tides from the textbook.
The way my CT begins her class is an effective way to get students on task right away. The CT keeps the students busy throughout the whole class period so they never have a chance to get distracted with something other than science. Every student knows to look at the board as soon as they come in and take out their homework. My CT says that she usually makes the opening activity cooperative. The flashcard quizzing allows the students to get out some energy and talk to each other a bit. Reviewing previous material and activating prior knowledge before starting the lesson helps the CT make sure that all students are on the same page with the material. When she begins explaining the tides, she asks the students what they already know about tides from spending time at the beach. She corrects their misconceptions by having them read from the textbook as a class. She engaged them by relating the material to experiences the students have had.
The way my CT begins her class is an effective way to get students on task right away. The CT keeps the students busy throughout the whole class period so they never have a chance to get distracted with something other than science. Every student knows to look at the board as soon as they come in and take out their homework. My CT says that she usually makes the opening activity cooperative. The flashcard quizzing allows the students to get out some energy and talk to each other a bit. Reviewing previous material and activating prior knowledge before starting the lesson helps the CT make sure that all students are on the same page with the material. When she begins explaining the tides, she asks the students what they already know about tides from spending time at the beach. She corrects their misconceptions by having them read from the textbook as a class. She engaged them by relating the material to experiences the students have had.